For Me
by reckless-rage
Summary: One-chaptered fic. He's waited for the one person he admired to acknowledge him as something other than a fellow team member of the tennis team. Short sweet fluff...? Thrill pairing.


**Here is the reward fic for readers of Tenipuri Crossover! A short, one-chapter affair, unfortunately. Still, if I have time, maybe I'll explore the pairing a bit more. Sorry to those of my readers who dislike this pairing, but I think the two of them look nice together. Gomen ne! Oh, a bit of warning: mild (read: very mild) shounen ai. Heh.**

**All right! Read on!!**

It was that time of the year again. He was already getting annoyed by all the girls around him, whispering and giggling while nudging each other. Still, he tried to smooth the frown from his face, smiling nicely when yet another girl blushingly surrendered her chocolates and her heart to him.

Yes, it was that all-famous St. Valentine's Day which he regarded with mild dislike. It was a waste of time, in his opinion, for the girls who sought him out to confess their feelings. There was only one confession from a certain someone he wanted to hear, but it didn't seem like it was going to happen anytime soon. He sighed, closing his book with a sharp snap.

"Fuji-kun, are you all right?" He looked up to see the adorably worried face of Eiji Kikumaru. "You've been staring at your book for ten minutes before giving it up."

"I'm fine." Fuji murmured distractedly as he glanced at a group of girls approaching them. Two of them had wrapped gifts in their hands and nervous looks on their faces. No doubt they were heading in this direction to confess to him - again.

Quickly, he got to his feet. "I've got to go now." He told Eiji. "There's no tennis practice after school today, right?"

"Um, Tezuka-buchou let us off today." Eiji smiled mischievously when he saw the girls. "I understand, Fuji-kun. Why don't you, um, look for Oishi-san for me? Tell him that I'll meet up with him after school."

"Thank you." Fuji said sincerely. "I'll look for him." He took a route opposite to the approaching girls, and he had just rounded the corner when he heard Eiji yell to distract them. Silently thanking his friend, Fuji slipped quietly away.

He headed straight for his locker. It was almost time for school to end, anyway. He didn't want to stay around after school, not today of all days. He slipped his book into his bag and slung it over one shoulder. Ignoring the many boxes of chocolates that had been hastily placed in his locker, he went in search of Oishi.

After delivering the message to the vice-captain, he excused himself and left the school grounds.

--

Fuji walked slowly down the road that led to the train station. He had been hoping - even _wishing _- that he would get chocolates from the one person he really admired. He looked up at the sky. The sun was dipping low into the sky, staining the clouds a crimson red. It was so quiet that the boy's mind unconsciously began to contemplate the reactions of his elder sister when she started teasing him about the chocolates he had no doubt received.

"Oi, Fuji-sempai."

Fuji's heart skipped a beat.

"You didn't hear me call your name at all, did you?"

Fuji started to turn slowly.

Ryoma was standing slouched under a tree, his brilliant white cap sitting atop unruly dark green curls. His large golden eyes peeked curiously up at his sempai. "You walked straight past me, even though I'd greeted you at least twice."

Fuji struggled to get his stunned expression under control. He forced a smile on his lips, even though he couldn't quite hide the surge of feeling that rushed through him. What was it? Joy? Relief? Confusion? Even Fuji himself didn't quite know.

"Gomen ne, Echizen-kun. What are you doing here?"

He quite expected the first-year to shoot back a cocky reply immediately, but to his surprise, Ryoma looked slightly uncomfortable.

"I thought I should do it in person." Ryoma finally mumbled. The cap and his hair hid his eyes perfectly - Fuji couldn't tell what the freshman was possibly thinking about.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." Fuji said pleasantly. When Ryoma chose to say nothing else, he sighed. "Well, if it's not too important, you can always look for me tomorrow." He turned to leave.

"No, wait!" Ryoma lurched forward, catching Fuji by the arm. "It - it is important! I mean - "

Fuji looked at Ryoma. The first-year didn't seem to realize that he was still gripping his sempai's arm, and Fuji noticed, with some amusement, that Ryoma seemed to be _blushing._

"Well, what is this 'important' thing you wanted to tell me?" Although Fuji had a very good inkling as to what Ryoma wanted to say, he wasn't about to spoil the whole thing if he was wrong. "So important that it can't wait until tomorrow?"

Ryoma took a deep breath, as if steeling himself to spit out whatever was rolling around in his mind. Sympathizing with the boy's awkwardness, Fuji leaned in.

And Ryoma seized the opportunity. He stood up on tip toes, placed light hands on Fuji's shoulders, and kissed him on the lips.

The contact lasted for no more than a couple of seconds, yet Fuji felt as if he'd been rooted to the spot for more than five minutes. His azure eyes flew wide open in shock as Ryoma took a nervous step back.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Fuji-sempai." Ryoma said. He held out a plain, white box with a small envelope taped to the lid. "I figured it was better…more appropriate…for me to hand it to you personally than to put it in your locker."

Fuji stared at the small box that held the customary chocolates. Suddenly, Valentine's Day hadn't turned out to be so bad after all.

"I made the chocolates myself, but seeing as how you like odd things, I added…" Ryoma trailed off when he saw the smile unfurling on Fuji's face. "What?"

"Nothing." If anything, Fuji's smile got wider. He took the box from Ryoma, then started rummaging about in his bag, fishing out his camera. He draped an arm around a startled Ryoma and held up the camera, lens facing them.

"Smile, Echizen-kun!" He said happily, snapping a picture. As expected, Ryoma made a face and wriggled out of his sempai's grasp, grumbling and adjusting his cap.

Fuji hooked an arm around Ryoma's and began to tug the younger boy towards the train station.

"Where are we going, Fuji-sempai?" Ryoma asked, startled.

"To my house, of course!" Fuji beamed back at Ryoma. "You'll have to stay for dinner - Yumiko said she'll be preparing something lavish."

"What? I can't!"

And Fuji had looked at him with so much longing in his eyes that Ryoma had given up and let himself be tugged along by his sempai. He hadn't really expected Fuji-sempai to accept his Valentine's Day proposal so readily, and so eagerly. They were, after all, both boys, and society in Japan still had an issue with that. Yet, Ryoma was sure he had read something in the eyes of his sempai when he'd first called out to Fuji.

Relief. Yes, that was it. Fuji had actually been relieved to see Ryoma.

Why?

The matter was driven entirely out of his mind when he showed up at Fuji's house for dinner. Yumiko, Fuji's elder sister, had been more than delighted to welcome him. She was an excellent cook, as Ryoma quickly found out. He was rather glad when Fuji decided not to tell anyone about his confession – he wanted to keep the whole thing under wraps for the time being.

The dinner went on for quite a long time, and when he saw how late it was, Ryoma politely excused himself. Fuji volunteered to see the younger boy to the gate, and they left the dishes to Yumiko and Yuuta.

Neither of them said a word until they reached the gate.

"Will you be at practice tomorrow, Echizen-kun?" Fuji asked lightly, opening the gate.

"Of course." Ryoma let himself out.

There was a short silence, then Fuji sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'll see you tomorrow, then." He smiled affectionately then leaned over the gate to hug Ryoma. "Thank you."

What? Why had Fuji-sempai said that? 'Thank you'? Shouldn't it be he, Ryoma, who thanked his sempai for the dinner?

"You're welcome." He said gruffly. He waited until Fuji-sempai had vanished back into the house before starting to walk towards his own home. It had been a long day, he felt, but one with a satisfactory ending.

"So he finally told you?" Yumiko appeared at the door of the kitchen "For real this time?"

Fuji Syusuke looked up at his elder sister, his smile so genuinely happy that his sister wanted to throw her arms around him and cuddle him.

"Yes. He did."

--

Fuji and Ryoma started going out with each other more often then, with Fuji usually pulling along a grumpy Ryoma into shops and movie theaters. Some might say, if they knew that the two were seeing each other as more than friends, that they were an unlikely couple, but neither Fuji nor Ryoma cared.

All they wanted, for now, was each other.

--

Ryoma unwrapped the beautifully glossy present that sat on the table before him. It was March the fifth, and the sky looked wonderfully clear outside the window. Ryoma had found the present sitting perched on his window sill, and once he saw the tiny, neat handwriting in the card taped to the present, he knew who had put it there.

He put the card aside, and removed the last of the paper. Refusing to admit to himself that he was curious, he opened the lid of the box.

One eyebrow twitched reflexively in response. He said nothing as he carefully took out the furry cat ears and tail that lay snugly in the box. Did Fuji really expect him to wear that?

His left hand flexing as if it wanted to hit something (or someone that had a permanent smile and a ridiculously high IQ), he took up the handwritten card again.

_To Ryoma,_

_Eiji helped me pick the most suitable one. A return gift for the lovely unique apple and wasabi chocolates on Valentine's Day. Hope you enjoy,_

_Syusuke._

Oh, Ryoma was going to have a word with Eiji about this. Wasn't it illegal to sell bits of animal body parts? Never mind that it wasn't harvested from real animals. No one would want to be caught walking around with a rubber hand sticking out of their heads, right?

But still, a corner of Ryoma's mouth lifted in a small smile. Fuji-sempai had called him Ryoma…not Echizen-kun.

Ryoma…That sounded good, coming from his Fuji-sempai.

**How was it? Sappy? Weird? Please let me know your thoughts!**

**-reckless-rage-**


End file.
